Suar and teak: two woods, two temperaments

Our pieces are born of two Indonesian species that differ in everything but longevity: suar and teak. Understanding their character already tells you which piece belongs in your home.

Suar — Albizia saman, also known as the rain tree — is a fast-growing tropical giant. Its wood offers spectacular contrasts: a deep brown heart ringed with golden sapwood, broad, almost landscape-like figuring. It's a wood of character, at ease in wide slabs and shapes sculpted from a single piece.

Teak, the quiet strength

Teak — Tectona grandis, plantation-grown in Java — plays a different score: a fine, even grain, a honey tone that deepens with time, and above all a natural richness in oil that makes it remarkably stable and moisture-resistant. It's the wood of everyday objects, of what gets touched and used daily.

“Suar is looked at like a landscape; teak is lived with like a habit.”

In the workshop the choice comes naturally: suar for sculptural pieces — our accent pieces carved from the mass, where every vein tells the tree's growth — and teak for serving objects, like our trivets, exposed to heat and repeated use.

Do you have to choose? Not really. Both species age admirably with the same minimal care, and pair effortlessly — teak's calm sets off suar's exuberance. The real question is the place you give them: a piece to look at, or an object to live with.